1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catalyst used in a reaction for manufacturing a hydrogen gas by reforming a hydrogen-containing gas such as methanol, etc. More particularly, the present invention relates to a catalyst required for a methanol gas reforming reaction to generate the hydrogen-containing gas that is suitable for a fuel gas supplied to a fuel cell used in a power source, etc. of a mobile body.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fuel cell is a device for converting directly a chemical energy of a fuel into an electrical energy, and can achieve high energy conversion efficiency. A main fuel used for the fuel cell is hydrogen, nevertheless a fuel gas (reformed gas) containing the hydrogen and carbon dioxide except the hydrogen may be used for the fuel cell such as a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a phosphoric acid fuel cell, a molten carbonate fuel cell, etc. Therefore, a reformer is provided in a fuel cell system having such fuel cell, and the fuel (hydrogen-containing fuel) is reformed in this reformer to generate the reformed gas containing the hydrogen.
For example, a steam reforming reaction for reforming a methanol as an example of the hydrogen-containing fuel by using a steam to generate the hydrogen is expressed by following Eq. (f1).CH3OH+H2O→CO2+3H2  (f1) 
Since the reforming reaction expressed by this Eq. (f1) is endothermic reaction, a burner, a heater, or the like is provided to the reformer to heat it and thus a heat quantity necessary for the above reforming reaction is supplied to start and keep the reforming reaction. A catalyst containing Cu as a major component is used in the reforming reaction expressed by Eq. (f1).